The newly acquired Haleakala Solar is poised to add approximately 1,000 new jobs and grow to approximately US$100m in sales over the next 24 months. Currently, Haleakala Solar employs about 125.

Haleakala Solar has been installing photovoltaic (PV) solar and water heating systems as well as battery storage solutions for more than 40 years and has completed more than 15,000 projects. There are plans to add roofing installations in the first quarter of the transition. The company operates on three of the Hawaiian Islands and plans to expand into a fourth this year.

Jim Whitcomb, founder of Haleakala Solar, approached Jim Petersen, CEO and president of PetersenDean Roofing & Solar, late last year for a strategic purchase. “It seemed like the perfect synergy between the two companies,” said Whitcomb. “In 40 years, Haleakala has grown into the largest residential PV installer in Hawaii so it would only make sense to go straight to the largest rooftop PV installer in the United States when the time came to hand over the reins.”

Petersen said: “We look forward to growing our business in Hawaii and adding more American jobs in doing so.”

Gary Liardon, the president of the consumer division of PetersenDean Roofing & Solar, is heading up this transition as well as additional acquisitions planned across the United States for this year.

“Solar is a critical part of the state’s energy portfolio,” said Liardon. “ The islands are a virtual incubator for all new technology in this space especially because of the state mandates that require all of the islands to be operating on 100 percent renewable energy by 2045. Hawaii already boasts some of the highest shares of renewable energy in the country, all on islands isolated from the stability of neighboring grids. That’s made them a natural testing ground for new technologies and regulatory models, including battery-backed solar and wind farms, aggregated demand response and energy storage, peak-shifting electric vehicle charging, and voltage-smoothing smart inverters and grid power electronics.”